Binge-Watching Is Slowly Killing You

YOLO.

By
Eliza Thompson

Jun 27, 2014

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Did you just spend three days straight marathoning season two of Orange Is the New Black? Congratulations, you're going to die sooner than everybody who didn't do that. According to a new study from the Journal of the American Heart Association, adults who watch three or more hours of TV a day might be twice as likely to "die prematurely" than those who only watch an hour or less. Less than an hour?! That barely covers one episode of Orphan Black.

The study followed 13,284 adults for eight years, during which time 97 deaths were reported. Nineteen of those deaths were from cardiovascular causes, while 46 were from cancer and 32 were from other causes. The study did not find a link between premature death and other sedentary activities like driving and working at a computer, nor did it explain what specifically causes the link between premature death and watching too much TV. However, Dr. Keith Ayoob, an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at NYC's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told CBS News that the study "draws attention to the hazards of sedentary behavior." Ayoob explained that binge-watching "is very compatible with mindless eating and mindless snacking," so "it may be that TV viewing is a marker of a particular lifestyle." What a buzzkill.

In conclusion: If you were planning to binge on two or three seasons of The X-Files this weekend, you might want to come up with a plan that involves just a tad more physical activity. Just take your iPad to the gym and fire up Revenge while on the treadmill, and you'll be fine.